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Sunday, 29 October 2017

Christmas knitting

I rarely do any Christmas present knitting, in fact I think this year is the first year I have done! and I've set myself a big challenge to knit 2 adult sized garments!

Last month I showed you a jumper I'm knitting for SofM. I showed it being knit in Drops Belle, which was the yarn called for in the pattern. This jumper is knitted in the round. The Drops Belle is a cotton based yarn and I hated it, it was spilty and it was knitting up huge, also I was getting nasty ladders on the sleeve from the DPNs so I frogged it and ordered some Drops Drops Merino Extra Fine and it is knitting up 100% better!

When we were away in Norfolk at the beginning of the month, I went into a lovely little yarn shop called Norfolk Needlecraft in Mundesley, which is on the coast. There was a delivery of new yarn from King Cole - Indulge, which is a chunky Acrylic, Polyester and Alpaca mix. The colours are lovely and when I saw this pattern and this colourway I knew DD would love it!

It should be knit in the flat and seamed but I hate doing that so I've cast on 2 extra stitches to ensure the pattern is going to be correct and I'm knitting the fronts and back together. I was going to knit the sleeves on DPNs but that didn't work very well so I will knit those flat.

The nice thing with King Cole patterns you always get 2 patterns for the price of one - in this case it is a long and short jacket, I'm doing the long one.

My socks are finished! I had a job with the toe grafting, I'm not very good at it! I will keep practicing!

I used to do a lot of cross stitch, in fact it was all I did throughout the 1990's and early 2000's but I've only done little bits here and there since I started quilting in 2007 but every so often I see a pattern that really appeals.

This pattern is one of them, from this month's 'Cross Stitcher'. I like this magazine - the designs are quite modern and I like that. You can't see it on the photo but the fabric has a glittery thread through it which is lovely.

I started a cross stitch before last Christmas that I must finish too!

I'm knitting another pair of socks, this time for Little Gromit, to wear with his wellies! They need to be finished for next Saturday because we are taking him to a bonfire for Guy Fawkes night (or bomb night as he calls it) and he will need to wear his wellies.

I've been watching a lot of knitting podcasts recently and most of the podcasters knit socks and get left with lots of bit of sock yarn that is too good to get rid of so they are knitting 'cosy memories' blankets. I love the look of the blankets but haven't got the patience to knit one so I'm crocheting one. Just good old granny squares surrounded in a natural coloured sock yarn and crocheted together. This will be a long term project and I am enjoying collecting mini skeins of hand dyed yarn for it.

And last but not least I'm knitting a DK weight jumper for myself. This jumper called 'For the love of trees and is in issue 79 of 'Knit Now' I'm also using Drops Merino Extra Fine for this. I've haven't worn this type of jumper for over 20 years as I don't think I suit them but I want to try one and I loved the pattern.

Last night my Mum, Dd and I went to Crewe Lyceum to see 'The Nutcracker'. It was lovely! we really enjoyed it! We rarely go to the theatre so it was a real treat!